This invention relates to the field of adjustable counterbalanced support apparatus.
Adjustable counterbalanced support apparatus are very commonly used to support wired devices such as microphones, video cameras, lamps, microscopes, illuminated magnifying glasses, and other wired devices wherein a user may easily move the wired device to a different horizontal and vertical position. U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,061 illustrates such conventional apparatus. In most cases, electrical wire is used to connect the wired device with a power source, amplifier, video imput, or other electrical connector, and such wire must be threaded through a hollow support arm. The support arms are most commonly steel members having a square cross section, usually formed by bending sheet steel into a square shape. The wire is usually threaded through the support members at the factory. If it is desired to change the wired device being supported, or the wire, it is very difficult with current and prior art adjustable counterbalanced support apparatus to remove the old wire and rethread new wire. In many cases the user merely attaches the new wire to the outside of the support member with tape or ties such as plastic ties.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus which does not require threading and rethreading of wire through a hollow support member. Another object is to provide a cantilevered support for a wired device which allows easy replacement for the device or the wire. A still further object is to provide a method of supporting a wired device which allows easy replacement of the device or its wiring.
These objects, and others which will become apparent from the following detailed description, are achieved by the present invention which comprises in one aspect an apparatus. for supporting a wired device comprising a base means to engage a support structure, a wired device engagement means, counterbalancing means to maintain the wired device in any desired position comprising boom arms and counterbalance arms, wherein the boom arms are adapted to receive wire for the wired device, and wherein the boom arms have U-shaped channels to receive the wire. The boom arms are preferably extruded metal, and more preferably extruded aluminum. The apparatus is preferably counterbalanced with springs, but could also be counterbalanced using friction supplied by friction plates or the like. Preferably the apparatus comprises lower, middle, and upper pairs of plates, a lower boom, an upper boom, and lower and upper counterbalance arms.
The wired device can be a microphone, a lamp, a video camera, an illuminated microscope, or any other wired device which can be mounted on a cantilevered apparatus which is easily moveable between first and subsequent positions without the need to take any step to secure the new position. In other words, the cantilevered, counterbalanced apparatus automatically maintains the wired device in a new position after it is moved by the user.
The U-shaped channels are preferably adapted to receive a selected size and type of wire, such as standard microphone cable in the case of microphones being the wired device, and to conceal the wire from side and front views, although the wire would normally be visable from the rear or top view.
When the U-shaped channels are about the size of the wire, the wire can be easily pressed into the channels and later easily removed and replaced if it is desired to change the device or the cable. The term U-shaped is intended to include C-shaped, wherein the sides of the channel are slightly curved inwardly.
In another aspect, the invention comprises a method of supporting a wired device in an adjustable, counterbalanced position comprising providing the aforementioned cantilevered apparatus, pressing the wire in the U-shaped channels of the boom arms, and optionally removing and replacing the wire in the channels.